I think Oud Fleur is a pretty, pleasant fragrance that has some wonderful creamy bits and can be quite lovely at times. It is more complicated than a simple, small application would lead you to believe, and veers from being sweet, sexy and feminine, to being quite cozy in an elegant manner. However, at heart, it’s really a misnamed fragrance that is more a light fruity-floral with spices and some generic woods than an actual oud fragrance. If I’m to be honest, I think Oud Fleur is very pretty, but somewhat over-priced for a fragrance that isn’t very distinctive. I also think those expecting a true agarwood perfume, or something with the heavy, woody richness of Oud Wood will be sorely disappointed. The same applies to anyone seeking a very masculine or true oud. This is not Xerjoff or Amouage territory! Tobacco Oud continues to devolve, reflecting neither of its namesake elements in any noticeable way. Near the end of the 4th hour, it loses the remainder of its incense, turning into a scent that is primarily gauzy, wispy labdanum with a hint of nebulous woody dryness that can just vaguely, barely, be made out as “oud.” Even that goes by the end of the 6th hour. From that pointon, until Tobacco Oud’s final moments, the perfume is a mere smear of soft amber. All in all, it lasted 9.5 hours on my skin with generally low sillage after the third hour. Tobacco Oud is standing in front of the hearth and warming your hands, a brief respite from the cool outdoors. Amber Absolute is curling up in a luxurious blanket in your favorite chair and settling in for the night. Step into a world of indulgence as the rich, velvety notes of Oud Fleur caress your senses, leaving an unforgettable impression. This captivating fragrance is a harmonious blend of rare oud wood, precious spices, and luxurious floral accords, creating a truly intoxicating olfactory experience.

Carrier: unisex with a clear tendency to the masculine by the animalic opening. The drydown then rather soft, warm and somewhat more feminine. According to CaFleureBon, Oud Fleur was created by Yann Vasnier of Givaudan who has made a number of fragrances for Tom Ford. The perfume’s notes on Fragrantica are extremely limited: Most people have a hard time understanding the fragrances from Tom Ford entirely; I get that part. Although with some things in life its all about timing. Being in the right place at the right time when seeking out Tom Ford requires a lot. If someone plans on using a scented soap while bathing along with clothes being washed in scented fabric softener and scented detergent this will have an effect on the cologne.Oud Fleur, as a whole, has one major problem that runs through Tom Ford's entire Prive Blend line. The naming. Really, this fragrance is not floral in my eyes. Sure, it has a floral approach due to the rose, which becomes one of the main components over time. But the entire fragrance is so much more trimmed towards spices and oud by its make that the epithet "Fleur" should have been left out here. "Oud Spice" would have been a better and more appropriate name for this fragrance.

Ten minutes in, other nuances appear under the top notes. There is a whiff of something floral, something almost rose-like, but it’s very minor at first. Much more noticeable is the subtle aroma of burnt beeswax, along with the merest suggestion of a darkened leather coated with honey. Both are side-effects of the labdanum. My skin tends to amplify the note, but it also makes patchouli act like a bullhorn a lot of the times, and Tobacco Oud is no exception. It takes the patchouli and runs with it, bringing out a definite syrupy, fruited, almost fruit-chouli like sweetness. Less than 30 minutes into Tobacco Oud’s development, the patchouli merges into the floral note to create a jammy rose sweetness that completely overwhelms the tobacco. I’ll be honest, I was a bit baffled, but, clearly, it’s the patchouli at play and, as usual, my skin wreaks havoc with it.Other key ingredients include roasted Tonka organic absolute, coumarin, sandalwood, amber, cistus oil, cistus absolute, cedarwood Atlas ORPUR, patchouli and castoreum. Personally, I was much more interested in what a close friend of mine thought, as she is a die-hard Tom Ford fan whose “holy grail” fragrance is Oud Wood, followed then by Amber Absolute. For her, Oud Wood and Amber Absolute are absolute perfection. She is the very talented, thorough, globally successful beauty blogger, Temptalia, and her review of Tobacco Oud reads, in part, as follows:

She too has noted how Tom Ford fragrances differ substantially in smell depending on the quantity applied, and I think her observations are useful, along with the ever-helpful comparisons to her beloved Amber Absolute: Oud Fleur is a little more complex than it seems -- I'm still compiling notes on it, but I'll post something once I feel like I've got it pegged down a little more. An initial impression is that it's a more thoughtful, subdued version of the kind of screechy rose-oud chemical stuff Bond tend to throw in many of their scents. It's tasteful, and a little bland perhaps, but the rose note is very good although somewhat buried (I think it's an otto, but if it's not, it's a fractionated rose -- hyperrealistic).The longevity was also good, I got somewhere in the 8-9 hour range, during testing. Was it amazing, in that regard? No. Though, it does its job for almost any event or standard work day. Oud Fleur is of course, another unisex scent from Tom Ford. This one does lean much more feminine, in my opinion. Wearing it was closer to a standard female perfume experience, than any male cologne of the market. Oud wood with its “noble rot.” Source: The Perfume Shrine via Dr. Robert Blanchette, University of Minnesota – forestpathology.coafes.umn.edu

On the other hand, those who liked By Kilian‘s Playing with the Devil (In The Garden of Good and Evil) would probably like Oud Fleur quite a bit. For me, Tom Ford accomplished what Kilian Hennessey failed to do, creating a fruity-floral with a bit of a fiery, spicy bite (the Devil) that turns into soft, creamy, floral woodiness (Goodness in the Garden). By the same token , women who enjoy soft fruity-florals and don’t like oud may greatly enjoy Oud Fleur. Men who are looking for a more woody twist on creamy florals with some cozy sweetness in the base may feel the same way. That said, my dear friend has what I affectionately call “unicorn skin,” because she gets longevity from all fragrances to a degree that is simply unique. I’ve never seen numbers (from anyone!) like what she regularly gets from a single, tiny, split spray of perfume. (Any perfume, any brand — doesn’t make a difference.) She’s in a whole other territory, beyond even “glue skin,” and verging on something completely epic. It fills me with the deepest envy, but it also requires me to caution you that you should not take her longevity numbers as the typical norm.The rose is thereby full-bodied, mysterious, dirty and so not at all sweet and tender. No, the is not only here to play - To fight but also not.